Berklee Percussion FestivalGato Preto and Jerry Leake

Gato Preto's primary focus is on the research and study of a traditional repertoire of choro music. Berklee graduate Jerry Leake is a master of hand percussion and jazz vibraphone, a solo instrument, which, as far as we know, has never been used before in such musical style in a systematic way. The group relies on the already granted formation of tambourine, cavaquinho, and the seven-string guitar as well.

The band performs in theaters, nightclubs, restaurants, radio and TV programs, parks, and other public areas. It is currently formed by Euclides Marques (seven-string guitar), Léo Rodrigues (tambourine), Henrique Araújo (cavaquinho), and André Juarez (vibraphone). Gato Preto has recently been on TV Cultura broadcasting appearance with a participation in a program called Ensaio, which has brought positive feedback from the audience and critic reviews. In 2010, Gato Preto won the award PREMIO SESI OF MUSIC and traveled around several cities in the countryside of São Paulo. In that same year, they were nominated for the award PREMIO APCA (São Paulo Art Reviwers Association), under the instrumental music category. The group's first CD will be released on June 21, during the Berklee Percussion Festival, which is sponsored by Berklee College of Music.

Jerry Leake Solo and DuoJerry Leake is cofounder of the acclaimed world music ensemble Natraj, whose four recordings feature his diverse percussion talents. He also cofounded and performs with Club d'Elf, R.A.R.E, Moksha, BodyGrooves, Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, and the Agbekor Drum and Dance Society. He is featured on dozens of CDs and has released several CDs of his own music. On tabla, he has accompanied Ali Akbar Khan, Steve Gorn, Sharafat Ali Khan, Kumkum Sanyal, Chitravena Ravikiran, Peter Row, Purnima Sen, Shyamdas, and kathak dancer Gretchen Hayden. He has toured with Persian masters, Shahram and Hafez Nazeri, with features on CNN Live; and has ongoing performances and tours with flamenco virtuoso Juanito Pascual. Leake graduated from Berklee, where he studied jazz vibraphone with Gary Burton and hand percussion with Pablo Landrum. He studied tabla in Pune, India with Rajiv Devasthali, and studies in Boston with Todd Nardin and Koashal Anand. In Chennai, India, Leake studied Carnatic rhythm theory and mridangam with T. K. Ramakrishnan. He continues to study African music with Dolsi-Naa Abubakari Luna of the Dagomba tradition (northern Ghana) and has studied Ewe music (southern Ghana) with Godwin Agbeli and David Locke, and balafon/djembe with the Coulibaly family in Burkina Faso. He has written eight widely used texts on North Indian, West African, Latin American percussion, and rhythm theory. Leake is former president of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society and has been a composer and member of the Portland Symphony Kinder Koncert percussion ensemble since 1984.

Admission:

$8 in advance (discount applied at checkout), $12 day of show, general admission